Red Wings Clinch Playoff Spot With Win At Stars

at American Airlines Center on April 27, 2013 in Dallas, Texas.Daniel Cleary #11 of the Detroit Red Wings skates into the crease during play against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on April 27, 2013 in Dallas, Texas. (Getty Images/Ronald Martinez)

DALLAS (AP) – The Detroit Red Wings are headed to the playoffs for the 22nd straight season after Henrik Zetterberg had two goals and an assist in a 3-0 victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.

Jimmy Howard made 17 saves to post his fifth shutout of the season as Detroit secured the seventh spot in the Western Conference. It’s the lowest playoff seed for the Red Wings since the NHL moved to the 1 vs. 8 conference format in 1993.

Jonathan Ericsson also scored and Pavel Datsyuk had three assists for the Red Wings, who own the longest active playoff streak in major professional sports, six years longer than the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs’ stretch of postseason play.

Detroit closed out the regular season with four consecutive wins by a combined score of 15-3. It will face second-seeded Anaheim in the first round of the playoffs

Richard Bachman made 34 saves for Dallas, which dropped its fifth consecutive game. It was eliminated from playoff contention on Thursday for the fifth straight season, the longest drought in franchise history.

Despite trailing the Wings in shots on goal by a 26-13 margin, Dallas trailed just 1-0 at the start of the final period and went on the power play, but Zetterberg converted a short-handed goal to make it 2-0 at 1:57.

A nice lead pass from Datsyuk sent Zetterberg in on a breakaway and, after making a slick move to his backhand, he slipped it between Bachman’s pads for his 11th goal of the season.

Ericsson added his third of the year at 6:30, when his wrist shot from the high slot beat a screened Bachman just inside the right post.

Howard made perhaps his best save of the night with 7:41 remaining when he stopped Antoine Roussel after he raced in on a short-handed breakaway.